Boomi (see previous CloudAve coverage here), the Pennsylvania based cloud services integration provider, is acquired by Dell today. Ever since IBM acquired Cast Iron, there were speculations that Boomi could be the next in the block and it has come true today. Dell has been building up the speculation machine on a possible cloud acquisition ever since Dell CEO Michael Dell suggested in a news conference in Hong Kong about it. The terms of the deal is not announced yet and I have written to Rick Nucci, CTO of Boomi, to hear his thoughts on how they will fit in the Dell’s strategy. Instead of waiting for his thoughts on this busy day for Boomi, I thought I will offer my initial thoughts now and wait for a more fine tuned analysis sometime later.

Clearly, Boomi is thrilled with the acquisition and it is evident from the statement released by Boomi President Bob Moul.

The Boomi team is thrilled to be joining the Dell family. This was a fantastic outcome for the team, our customers and partners. Dell gives us the global platform to continue to scale Boomi AtomSphere as the leading integration solution in the SaaS and cloud computing industry.

Quick Thoughts

As soon as I saw the news this morning, the following thoughts occurred to me. I am looking forward to talk with industry veterans on the topic soon.

After IBM and HP, Dell is trying to position themselves as a services company. Well, as cloud adoption continues to increase on the enterprise side, this makes complete sense. There is not much margins in the hardware business and cloud is accelerating the decline

When you see this acquisition, you have to see in the context of Dell’s acquisition of Perot Systems. If you do that, this acquisition will make more sense. They are already offering consulting and integration services all around the stack. With Boomi on their pocket, they can position themselves to take advantage of the current SaaS wave in the enterprises

I would expect Dell to do some more strategic acquisitions in the SaaS space. Unlike IBM, they are handicapped in that space and expect to see some interesting acquisitions there

Remember Data Integration is the key to the cloudy future. By having Boomi in its pocket, Dell is well positioned to handle these needs

Conclusion

Well, the race between the big companies to stay relevant in the SaaS era is in full throttle. The next two years will see a wave of consolidation in this space. Boomi is a nice fit for Dell as they are a more modern integration company (API based rather than Appliance based integration like Cast Iron, Jitterbit, etc.). With Perot Systems on their packet already, Dell can now offer a wide range of integration throughout the stack.

Director, OpenShift Strategy at Red Hat. Founder of Rishidot Research, a research community focused on services world. His focus is on Platform Services, Infrastructure and the role of Open Source in the services era. Krish has been writing @ CloudAve from its inception and had also been part of GigaOm Pro Analyst Group. The opinions expressed here are his own and are neither representative of his employer, Red Hat, nor CloudAve, nor its sponsors.